Highlights
- China reported more than 2,000 fresh domestic infections on Tuesday for the second straight day, as curbs ramped up in response to a wave of regional outbreaks.
- Videos shared online over the weekend showed employees escaping the Foxconn campus and returning to their hometowns on foot, in a bid to avoid Covid travel restrictions.
- As per reports, people were put forcibly in quarantine and were left struggling to get groceries and other essentials. Workers have accused the facility of locking them up in dormitories with diminishing food and medicine supplies.
On Tuesday, the world’s largest iPhone factory in central China told staff it would quadruple their bonuses if they stayed back at the plant after scores of workers fled a Covid outbreak at the facility.
Videos of people who appeared to be Foxconn (company that assembles Apple’s iPhones) employees leaping over fences and moving down a road while carrying their possessions have been making the rounds on Chinese social media platforms.
One of the biggest facilities in China, assembling goods for Apple, including its most recent iPhone 14 handsets, is the Foxconn facility in Zhengzhou. The company’s facility in Henan province, which has space for up to 3,50,000 people, had only 2,00,000 workers at the complex.
Why are workers fleeing?
Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn’s plant in Zhengzhou has been under lockdown since mid-October, with the company saying it is testing employees daily and keeping them in a closed loop as a part of China’s “zero-COVID” policy. But complaints from workers circulating on Chinese social media have alleged poor working conditions and inadequate virus protection for employees who are not infected.
As per reports, people were put forcibly in quarantine and were left struggling to get groceries and other essentials. Workers have accused the facility of locking them up in dormitories with diminishing food and medicine supplies.
Bloomberg news stated that only workers in the production department were given meal boxes at one point. In contrast, those with the infection or those afraid to exit the factory were given basic food like bread and instant noodles, all in the name of “Covid curbs.” These conditions forced employees to flee the facility.
Resentment against China’s strict COVID curbs
The events reveal escalating public resentment of China’s “zero-COVID” policy, in which the state attempts to halt outbreaks by stringent testing, isolation, and lockdown procedures whenever diseases are discovered.
Videos shared online over the weekend showed employees escaping the Foxconn campus and returning to their hometowns on foot, in a bid to avoid Covid travel restrictions.
Local governments surrounding the city asked fleeing workers to register with authorities if they returned home and to complete several days of quarantine upon arrival.
The bonus policy
Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant said on its official WeChat account that, starting from Tuesday, employees will receive a daily bonus of 400 yuan ($55) for showing up to work – quadruple the previous subsidy of 100 yuan daily. Staff will also receive additional bonuses if they attend work for 15 days or longer in November, reaching 15,000 yuan if they record full attendance this month.
China reported more than 2,000 fresh domestic infections on Tuesday for the second straight day, as curbs ramped up in response to a wave of regional outbreaks.
Guangzhou’s southern Chinese manufacturing hub also announced partial lockdowns in several districts on Monday in response to rising case numbers. Guangzhou reported more than 520 fresh infections on Tuesday.
